More handpicked essays just for you.
Roman influence on western civilization
Roman influence on western civilization
Political influence of the Renaissance
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Francis Petrarch: Leader of the Humanistic Movement and Father of the Renaissance Before the civic spirit and individuality evident and necessary to the Renaissance came to fruition, there had to have been something to trigger a change in the mentality of the medieval civilization. The medieval manorialism fostered illiteracy and ignorance and a very narrow view of the outside world, people did not question their place, the church, or the need to prepare for the after life. The "awakening" of the Renaissance came after the dawn of a new Roman Empire way of thinking.. Humanism is the intellectual, literary and scientific movement of the 14th to the 16th centuries without which the Renaissance would never have evolved. Humanism is a rediscovery and reevaluation (analysis) of classical civilization and the application of the aspects of this civilization to intellectual and social culture in the current time. It is a blend of concern for the history and actions of human beings, mainly the ancient Greeks and Romans, such as, Cicero, Ceaser, and Augustine, with the belief that man was at the center of the universe. Contrary to Christian teachings, humanist believe that man is subject and creator of his own destiny, governed by ideals of beauty, grace, and harmony and the glorification of individual freedom. These ideas provide the vehicle, in which the transition from medieval thinking of vassalage (servitude) and the afterlife to a return to the principles of the Pax Romana occurred. Christian humanism came to mean individualism and the value of life in the present. Italy, and specifically Florence, is said to have been the birthplace of humanistic thinking and the Renaissance for a variety of reasons. Geography, more ... ... middle of paper ... .... Petrarch and His World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1963. Donadoni, Eugenio. A History of Italian Literature, Volume 1. New York: New York University Press, 1969. Hollway-Calthrop, Henry. Petrarch: His Life and Times. New York: Putnam's, 1907. Lawall, Sarah, ed. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces, Seventh Edition, Volume 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1998. Musa, Mark, ed. Selections from the Canzoniere & Other Works by Francesco Petrarch. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Robinson, James Harvey, ed. Petrarch: The First Modern Scholar and Man of Letters New York: G.P. Putnam, 1898. Symonds, John Addison. "Beginning and Progress of the Renaissance" History of the World, 01-01-92 (obtained online). Wilkins, Ernest Hatch. A History of Italian Literature. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974.
Lawall, Sarah and Maynard Mack, Eds. _The Norton Anthology of world masterpieces: The Western Traditions_. New York. 1999.
Bibliography:.. Plutarch, Fall of the Roman Republic: Six lives by Plutarch, Translated by Rex Warner (London: Penguin Books Ltd., 1972).
Zaho’s work like Noel’s, is in a way classical in nature but for a different reason, she interacts heavily with Dante and Boccaccio, but even more so with Petrarch. Zaho traces the classical roots of triumphal imagery and its relation to Petrarch’s Africa. She argues that the revival of the antique triumph was the most significant tool, propagandistic or otherwise, in legitimizing the rules of Italian Renaissance rulers. She looks at Sigismondo Malatesta, Federico de Montefeltro, and the Duke Borso d’Este for her case studies. She lends a key contribution to the field, in that she argues a point perhaps somewhat contradictory to that of Jane Black who takes a far more legal approach to the topic of Renaissance ruler’s justifications for their
Lawall, Sarah, et al. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Vol. I. 7th ed. New York: Norton,
Ruskin, John. “Grotesque Renaissance.” The Stones of Venice: The Fall. 1853. New York: Garland Publishing, 1979. 112-65. Rpt. in Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1989. 21-2.
Bierhorst, John, et al. The Norton Anthology: World Literature. Vol I. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.,
Harman, Alec, and Anthony Milner. Late Renaissance and Baroque Music. London: Barrie Books LTD., 1959. ML193.H37
Najemy, John M. Italy in the Age of the Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Bondanella, Peter. (2009), A History of Italian Cinema, NY, The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc.
During the renaissance, there was a renewed interest in the arts, and the traditional views of society came into question. People began to explore the power of the human mind. A term often used to describe the increasing interest in the powers of the human mind is humanism. Generally, humanism stresses the individual's creative, reasoning, and aesthetic powers. However, during the Renaissance, individual ideas about humanism differed.
Petrarch’s letter to Cicero symbolizes his quest for knowledge from the ancient philosophers and his effort to bring out the best of humanism in Florentine society. His very act of writing a letter to an ancient philosopher represents his longing to be associated with the antiquity and his desires to get guidance from the ancient leaders. This letter addresses to an individual (Cicero), but it is intended for the Florentine society, which shows that Petrarch wanted to provide a new lens of studying history—by questioning the authors and finding morality through the study of antiquity and the ancient philosophers. It is the essence of humanism to constantly try to improve the society by guiding it towards being moral and focused in improving
Unger, Miles. Magnifico: The Brilliant Life and Violent Times of Lorenzo de' Medici. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008.
Wetherbee, Winthrop. "Dante Alighieri." Stanford University. Stanford University, 29 Jan. 2001. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
Kristeller, P. O. (Spring 1970). Erasmus from an Italian Perspective. Renaissance Quarterly.Vol. 23. No. 1.
Harr, James. Essays on Italian Poetry and Music in the Renassisance: 1350-1600. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.